August Achievements and Acquisitions.

Well here we are at the end of August. Time to have a look back and see how I got on with my goals.

I was late posting goals, they didn't appear until the 10th, but here they are.

1) Make progress on Lest We Forget/ The Poppy quilt. 

I wanted to make progress. And I did. I got a lot of hand quilting completed and also the applique flowers have all had some machine quilting added to them. 

I still have a way to go with this one, but I am happy with the progress I have made.

2)  Make progress on Down in the Garden.

It would have been good to have made a little more progress on this one. But I am working on the last block. It is all stitchery, no pretty fabrics.

All of the words are stitched and about a quarter of the floral border. 

Ugh! Blogger what did you do? The image should clear up if you click on it. 

3) Make progress on The Memory Quilt.

This one made the greatest progress. I cut the feature fabrics/clothing into big blocks, so that helped to speed things along.

It now has one narrow border in the same lilac/pink as the sashing strips. I'm undecided about adding another wider border before quilting and finishing. I might also add some hand stitched details to the two school badge blocks. 

4)  Christmas ornaments.

I made good progress on these. I only needed four more, then added an extra. So I now have five under way and need only to add some details and finishing, and they will be done. Plenty of time.

5)  Get a quilt onto the frame.

Done. I loaded my latest scrappy hexagon quilt onto the frame and got busy.

It was quilted and bound in just a couple of days.

Yay!! A finish.

So there it is. Five goals.

One finished and four with great progress.

All achievements in my book. 

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It was also a good month for acquisitions.

I had some amazing acquisitions in July, all from the same lady who was sorting her mother's stash. The money she made was going into the great grandie's bank accounts. They did very well out of me in July, and August saw me making another deposit into that same account and acquiring two more big supermarket paper sacks filled with fabrics and UFOs. 

It took me quite some time to sort and find homes for all of these new fabrics, many of which are quite large, big enough to join a couple and use for backings.

And of course UFOs are a great head start when it comes to quick finishes. No patterns though. Some will be easy to complete, some will require a little thought.

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A more recent acquisition is exciting for different reasons.

Do you recall I brought home a quilting hoop on loan from the club? I wanted to try it out before making an investment in one for me. 

Last week a friend tagged me on one for sale in Christchurch. Oh my! A bargain!

Tony said go for it!

The vendor had family visiting from Timaru and if I could wait, he could get it to Timaru on Sunday.

For that price, yes I can wait!

So yesterday I got the message to say the vendor's brother was home here in Timaru and expecting me, I hopped into my car.

Not just the hoop, but also the stand.

And a half hoop.

All for $75 NZ

Delivered to Timaru free of charge.

I didn't try out the hand held hoop from club yet, and now possibly won't, 

but I am very much looking forward to trying out my new Hundred Acre Wood hoop and stand.

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I have had some incredibly lucky finds recently.

I thank whatever lucky star it was that sent them my way. 

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And finally, last time I wrote, I mentioned that Torstein and Charmaine were coming for a visit yesterday. They enjoyed a BBQ lunch and as the weather was so nice, they asked if they could build a playhouse. Out came my Grans old wooden tri fold airer which we covered with a big table cloth.

Add a pile of Nannys quilts and blankets and some cushions off the garden furniture and you have a very comfortable playhouse. 

While we were out in the garden the children spotted this visitor.

He doesn't look like much here on the fence. LOL A furry caterpillar about 1 inch long.

They had fun letting it crawl over their fingers and were then persuaded to put it back onto the fence and allow it to get in with his day.

As I said it was a warm day and after the BBQ had gone cold, Charmaine asked about the 'lovely smell'.

The sun was warming the violets, just below where they were playing.

What a beautiful scent they give off. 

That's my news for August.

Time to plan for September.